[TerryBob]

I have been shooting black powder rifles and revolvers for about 26 years now and I have never seen a cap go off while it was being placed onto the nipple. I am paranoid about this and always have been.

How much pressure does it take to set off a cap? I have been seeing these little plastic cap retainers around and have even purchased them but I do not know how to apply them.

I have been shooting too long to be this stupid about it. I have even considered putting on heavy gloves and pushing on a cap to see just how hard one has to press to get it to go off.

Any thoughts or first hand experience to pass on?

TerryBob

[confed sailor]

i own a armisport Enfield, it uses musket caps

i will be honest, in the heat of a battle (reenactment) i have slammed caps on my nipple before, never a one has gone off. once i looked at my nipple and noticed that the brass had to actually tear to allow the primer to impact the nipple. i dont think its very likely at all for one to go off under hand pressure, but then again, i dont wanna try either:p

[Stickjockey]

I don't think it's the pressure that sets them off as much as it is the sharp impact. You should be able to squeeze a cap as hard as you like with a pair of pliers, and as long as you squeeze slowly and smoothly, it should just crumple the cap. (Don't try this!) However, if you hit it with a hammer, it will go off.

[Bainx]

This is something I have wondered about for several years. When you put the cap onto the nipple with the "capper" you necessarily push down to strip off the cap. Just gotta wonder, how much pressure is on the cap when I strip it off?
Is it enough to set it off?

XX Not so far

[mcneill]

I believe that Stickjockey is correct. Fulminate of Mercury explodes from impact, not pressure. I also have never had a cap go off from pressing on nipple.

Jim

[MagKnightX]

"i will be honest, in the heat of a battle (reenactment) i have slammed caps on my nipple before,"

"once i looked at my nipple and noticed..."

"When you put the cap onto the nipple..."

This is why I think I may never start using percussion-capped guns. I may have to start talking like this, and using words such as "inline nipple pick" and "flamethrower nipple" (both sold by Cabelas, and possibly work very well). I don't think I could stand that.

Anyhoo, from thumb or finger pressure, you probably aren't going to set it off. If you put them on with a woodcarving mallet and a series of short, sharp clunks, that's a different story.

[confed sailor]

for all of y'all who cant keep your mind out the gutter, and for those who cant say words like doody and peepee without a snicker.

there is hope for you in the blackpowder world!!!

its called an inline with shotgun caps.

[Jim K]

Stickjockey is correct. Setting off a cap takes a sharp blow, not a push, even a fast one. Don't sweat it.

Jim

[P95Carry]

Setting off a cap takes a sharp blow As Jim says yeah ..... but to qualify that think of it in terms of ''energy'' input. That does actually have to be quite considerable and intense, concentrated into a very short time frame. Thus ... pressure per se slowly applied can virtually NOT do anything. The nipple periphery acts as an anvil and all compound ''trapped'' between nipple and cap gets extreme sudden compression when hammer impacts...... at full speed.

The only other thing that might cause a cap to ''go'' is scratching the compound inside with a sharp implement.

[TerryBob]

Thanks for all of the help people. Like I origionaly said, it's just a litlle paranoid quirk that I had even though I had never heard of this happening before. Now, I am a little more assured even though some of you used words like "Probabaly" and "Should not", still leaving just a teeny weeny amount of doubt. :p

Thanks again,

Terrybob